Rejoinders / Letters to the Editor

Rejoinders/Opinion/Letters

The Milli Gazette

Published Online: Feb 07, 2013

Print Issue: 1-15 September 2009

MG

Congratulation to you for continuing the publication of MG. I am satisfied with the contents and language of the MG. But I wish it more altercative, glamorous and colorful, with glossy papers and colored pictures. Like Radiance, Muslim India, Outlook orFrontline or Communalism Combat, its size and layout may be considered. Earlier Radiance also was being printed in newspaper-size but now it comes in handy magazine size.

Md. Habibuddin, Malda, West Bengal

Editor: Thank you. We are always trying to improve both the quality and the look of MG and perhaps you have marked the changes with the last issue. As regards changing the format, I am against the magazine format because we deliberately want to look like a newspaper because we do not want to become an article-based magazine. It is our endevour from the very beginning to concentrate basically on current news as well as on reports and analysis of current issues. Every format has an underlying message. As regards, the magazines' being "handy", I think tabloid size too is handy compared to broadsheets and many people around the world like tabloids and many daily newspapers are published as tabloids.

II

I am really charmed by your Gazette.

Dr. Shamsul Alam, President, W.B. Principals' Council, Kolkata

III

Congratulation to cover a decade of publication. I wish and pray The Milli Gazette will serve the community, the nation and in cover of time the world over till Qiyamat. Ameen.

Mr Md. Habibuddin, Hyderpur (South), Dist. Malda, WB–732101

IV

I really appreciate your hard effort for letting us know the situation of Indian as well as world Muslims.

Syed Aktar Ali, Vill. Amritashal, Baganda, Howrah, WB 711315

aktar041@yahoo.co.in

V

It was good to see Milli Gazette in colour. I hope MG comes up with more colour, content and stories based on fieldwork in future giving Muslims a better media alternative.

Manzar Imam, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi

manzarkhalil@gmail.com

VI

I have great respect for you and your organizations Mili Gazette as well as Charity Alliance for your efforts towards upliftment of our Muslim Society. I will feel proud if I may contribute or become a part of these pious movements.

Umar Farooque, Muzaffarpur uf23193@gmail.com

VII

Your magazine is always jam-packed with contents and interest of the community is profiled in very hard-hitting manner, hitting the bull's eye in a straightforward manner. However, I have to admit that the contents are so big, I am not able to do justice by reading, and cover only a part of it. Personally I would prefer it monthly. Wishing you continued success with the way you are reporting, various coverages from all parts of the country.

S. Siraj, Madel, Margao 403 601 Goa

Super-Western hijab-hater?

One wonders how a Muslim gentleman quite managed to condemn hijab as a burden on Muslim ladies in his article “Egyptian woman murdered inside a German Court” appearing in the July 16-31, 2009 issue ofMG?

S. Akhtar, Khanpur Deh-392150

Repeal of GUJCOC Bill

The vindictive attitude of the Narendra Modi government to target the Muslim community is exposed when the Gujarat assembly passed the spiteful GUJCOC Bill in its original form by rejecting all the three amendments recommended by President Pratibha Patil. What is more obnoxious is the statement by the Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah that the removal of the clauses would lose nails and teeth of the law to deal with the organized crime. The justification borrowed by the state government that Gujarat shared a common land and sea border with a hostile country is a charade. Are the dozens of perpetrators of heinous crimes in the post-Godhra pogrom who are roaming freely in the streets of Gujarat had come crossing the borders? The 15 crore Muslims in the country who reposed confidence in the Manmohan Singh government by electing the UPA-II in the recent elections would expect urgent measures to take legal and administrative action to annul the GUJCOC Bill.

Syed Sultan Mohiddin, Kadapa (AP)

sultan_awaz@yahoo.co.in

Western way of life in India

Most of the deadly diseases have started from Europe and America. Aids is the gift of Europe and swine flu is the gift of America. The Europeans and Americans are irreligious and immoral people. They are highly materialistic minded and involved in the immoral sex behavior. Gays and Lesbians are common. The Almighty God is annoyed and He is sending incurable viral diseases. We are also following the western way of life and also sharing their deadly diseases. We Indians are mostly religious persons and involved in religious practices but slowly leaving our eastern mode of life and blindly following the western ideology. Now it is high time that we should stop and think over our direction. We should not allow frequently Americans and Europeans to darken our country. That will be a good check on these new deadly diseases.

Dr. Abdul Hameed Maqdoomi, Gulbarga

drmaqdoomi@yahoo.com

Accomodation for Muslims

Actor Imraan Hasmi's complaint that he was denied residential accomodation in posh area (Read: upper caste Hindu-dominated area) in Mumbai. Earlier, Shabana Azmi had to face same problem. In Gujrat Muslims do not get housing accomodations in upper caste Hindu localities. My point is as to why we, the Muslims, should go for posh area which are dominated by upper caste Hindus and get insulted. Why do not we create our own posh areas thereby compelling the Hindus to come to our areas. The best way to solve this problem is to create our own posh areas. Denial of accomodations to the Muslims will stop only when we create our own areas far better than theirs. Till then this discrimination will continue.

Farooq Abdul Gaffar Bawani, Rajkot, Gujarat

mohammed.galeria@yahoo.co.in

Too many undertrials

Today 2.45 lakh such citizens are languishing in our jails who may, very well, not have committed the crime for which they are inside. They are the undertrials who may have spent more years in jails than the quantam of the sentence for the crime for which they are under trial. If they are ever proved guilty, that is.The conditions in our jails are atrocious. Varun Gandhi in his short stay in Pilibhit jail had a rat bite! Our jails have 50% more inmates than their capacity and 70% of them, quite possibly, are innocent of the crime for which they are in! Only 30% of the prisoners are convicts.The state which cannot speedily dispose of the cases or cannot lodge its prisoners in reasonably human conditions has no right to rob the citizens of their personal liberty.The judiciary, the legal fraternity, the Human Rights organizations should consider themselves as responsible as the government.An excellent amendment to the Section 41 of the Criminal Procedure Act was passed by the Parliament early this year. Under this amendment no person would be arrested if his crime is punishable by less than 7 years imprisonment. The Police would arrest the person only if he fails to respond to a notice to present himself at the station. In short the amendment obviated the necessity of an arrest and therefore the necessity of a bail. The Chief Justice of India endorsed this pro-people act, while making a startling statement that sixty percent of the arrests made in India are needless. Who scuttled the notification of this Act? The lawyers. The legal fraternity of Delhi came down on the street protesting against this act. They marched to the Parliament, blocked roads and even resorted to hunger-strike forcing the government to defer the notification of the Act. Nothing is heard of that amendment since.

Dr Mookhi Amir Ali, Santacruz West, Mumbai

drmookhi@hotmail.com

Performance of Muslim MPs in Parliament

I was shocked to see the report appeared in TwoCircles on the performance of Muslim MPs in Parliament. I took pains to verify the facts. I could see that the performance of Mr M.I.Shanavas (MP, Wayanad, Kerala) in Parliament happened to be above average. His first speech in connection with the Budget discussion speaks by itself. His participation during the debate relating to Right to Education is worth noting. Till now Mr Shanavas has asked 34 questions and has also raised questions in the zero hour.The text of his speech available in the Lok Sabha website.

P.M.Pareethu Bava Khan, Secy. Gen.,Unity for Social

Development ,Kerala, Trivandrum pmpbkhan@yahoo.com

Afghanistan polls

The recently concluded election in Afghanistan has been marred by intimidation, fraud, ethnic loyalty, tribalism and low turnout. The would be President has to secure somewhere around 25% of the overall votes to rule the country for a new term. This seems to be the initial process of evolution of real democracy.

Mohammed Sadullah Khan, Riyadh, KSA

mosakhan40@gmail.com

India Should Play Nehru's Role

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has recently said "Non-Alighnment remains an article of faith for us." Non-Alighned Movement was founded in 1955 in Bandung (Indonesia). Its founder members were Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, President Ahmad Sokarno of Indonesia, President Jamal Nasir of Egypt and President Tito of Yogoslavia. Its objectives were opposition of colonialism, political and economic exploitation of Asia and Africa, progress and prosperity of poor and backward countries etc. NAM was deadly against the policy of enslavement of weak and poor by both the power blocks of America and Soviet Union. After disintegration of Soviet Union, America has been trying to enslave the world. Barbaric attacks on Afghanistan, Iraq etc. bear testimony to it. Now Iran, the 4th oil and gas supplier of the world is America's target. India, NAM's tallest member, should play its part in strengthening the NAM which represent half the world. NAM should stop America's international goondaism. For 50 years India's foreign policy was anti Anglo-American imperialists and Israel. It was based on truth and justice and was in our national interest. India must play anti-imperialist role of Jawaharlal Nehru.

G. Hasnain Kaif, Azad Ward, Bhandara, Maharashtra

National Anthem

Our national anthem Jana Gana Mana was composed in praise of a visiting British king. The word Adhi Nayak indicates the slavery to British empire.This song by Tagore is written in Bengali. Indian people do not understand Bengali language. Hindi language is our national language. Hindi is understood by majority in India. The song Sare Jahan se Achha Hindustan Hamara written in Hindi language by Alama Iqbal is a very sweet song. Even children can understand its meaning. The song has all the ingredients of patriotism.The tune is good too. Why not sing Sare Jahan se Achha as our national anthem ? I request people to think over it

Nazneen O. Saherwala, Surat nazsita@yahoo.co.in

Grave Tidings For Indian Leadership

If the Chinese analyst's posting on a private Think Tank website is surprising to Indian Establishment, it should not waste time in coming out with its own counter strategies, with a view to take its own people in confidence. It should not seek and accept any lame excuses from our adversaries over the apparently a calculated move to shake up India. The alleged dream of a 'Afghanistan to Myanmar' can hardly be the priority of Indians at any stage of their nation building. The inclusion of Afghanistan and Myanmar into a 'Greater India' appears to be throw back to British India. It is possible that India's and Manmohan Singh's new friends from the West, have their own plans to draw up a new nation in the subcontinent, and are leaking out details as a working model of their imperialist design for India. Indian people are not aware if by signing up strategic partnership with the US and its allies, our leaders are ushering in such a dubious, hazardous and dangerous element, which could trigger reactions like that of the Chinese Strategist, risking a virtual balkanization our nation. The figuring of Hindutva as the most touted center-point of Indian nationhood by the Chinese is a clever device to justify the break-up design for other disgruntled regionals. This should give a food for thought to the Hindutvadis too. As a start, they will have to discard their narrow exclusivist Idea of India, if they do not want forces beyond their control to make them the culprit and find excuse to threaten the very foundation of our nationhood. From now on, they should be the last people to have any role in the future of nation building. In fact, they are our weakest link to the future integrity and security of our country. A handful of minority, in these times of democratic rights, cannot be acceptable to the world, especially to our adversaries, as fit to claim India, even if they manage to muscle in by garnering spurious electoral majority. India is at the threshold of very crucial changes and it will need leadership that inspires trust and confidence among its people. As a nation, in the face of such grave challenges, we are a nation without vision, without direction, without a consensus to face the future. Let our leaders stand up and face the nation, as soon as possible to explain what is happening around us and how are we supposed to be coping with such challenges. India needs a strong, robust, confidant and visionary leadership at this juncture that is not given to hallucinations and hubris. It is time to consolidate what we have and not covet what we can never digest.

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai

ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com

Serve your community

Muslim organizations must do some commendable work like awarding those who achieved some milestone in life. I am sorry to say that Urdu papers fill their pages with poems, stories, afsana, filmi gossip, khatna programmes, walima news and the like but rarely I find Urdu papers highlighting Muslims achievements. Here are three stories which appeared in Hindi dailies which report about Muslims achievements:

1. Sasaram is an important town where Shershah is buried and a monument was built there for him. It is a prohibited area and a pond is encroached upon by dwellers; even saffron groups threatened to start an agitation if idols were not allowed to dip in the pond. Near the Tomb of Shershah there is a mosque where Mohammad Qalamdar started burying unclaimed bodies. Till date, more that 700 bodies were buried by him. Earlier, he along with 21 persons worked under "Anjuman Falahul Muslimeen". Many of his co-workers left him but he continues his work for humanity. A minimum of Rs 1000 is spent on each burial. He collects charity. Now government and Railway authorities search for him wherever an unclaimed body is found.

2. Village Sasauna, Block-Tajpur, Dist. Samastipur, Bihar has a yatimkhana where many orphan Muslim kids are living. It is managed by a person who is working in Britain and sends Rs 40,000 every month for the orphans. His name is Salim Farooqui.

3. Akhtari Khatoon and Anwar Hussain: Akhtari Khatoon is completely handicapped as she has no hands but she appeared in Madrasa Exams. An exemplary work. Like Akhtari, Anwar too is handicapped.

S. Haque, Patna

Swine flue or lustful glue?

What, after all, is this swine flue?

Is it not a sticky lustful glue?

Should we not find what is true?

Though all of us are shaking

It seems to be like our own making

There are bar girls, there are cheer girls

A naked devil's flag unfurls.

If we at all wish to be truly fine we must, at once, stop behaving like swines.

S. Akhtar U.A. Patel, Khanpur Deh (Bharuch) - 392150

Discrimination in Jadavpur uni.

I want to draw your attention regarding discrimination and bias against me in the matter of selection for the post of Lecturer, Geology Department, Jadavpur University. The University has selected less qualified candidate, Mr. Anupan Ghosh, who did not have a PhD degree till date of interview (15th September 2008) while I had obtained PhD degree in the year 1999 and have 9 years of post-doctoral research experience with 15 refereed journal publications. I have better academic performances record over the selected candidate. Moreover, the interview process was manipulated and communally biased and deferred 16 months from closing date of application to secure the post for the selected candidate. The University made false statement regarding qualifications of Mr. Ghosh to the National Commission for Minorities on 02.12.2008 and the same false statement was sent to the Chairman of UGC (University Grant Commission) on 11.02.2009. The university has even fabricated selection committee recommendation sheet which was been placed in Executive Council meeting on 16th September 2008. Thus, Selection Board has eliminated a qualified minority community candidate. The Minority community representation in the university is very poor. Presently, there are only 6 minority community teachers out of 665 teachers in the university. In the last 54 years, only seven teachers from Minority community were selected and appointed in the university. Not a single teacher from the minority community has been selected in Geology department since Independence. My case is an ideal example of deprivation of the minority community in selection of teachers by this university. I was deprived earlier in faculty job by Jadavpur University on 19th August 2005. As this is happening repeatedly in this university, I made a complaint to the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) on 6th October 2008. The Commission summoned the Vice-Chancellor on 25 June 2009 regarding discrimination and injustice against me. The Commission made an enquiry and came to a conclusion on 22 July 2009 that there is a clear-cut case of partiality, favouritism and discrimination by Jadavpur University. Please publish this in MG so that the massage reaches the minority community and rational persons of other communities.

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